Mountjoy

Our flights were scheduled to leave late; 11:55, so we hung out with Tug until 3:00 before heading to the airport. The roads were great, and traffic was light until we got close to Toronto. We met Mike and Lori at Arizonas on Carlingview, and we enjoyed a nice dinner on the patio. We were less than a block from our parking spot, and we made it to the airport with three hours to spare. The flight was uneventful and we arrived in Dublin around 11:30 Wednesday morning. Immigration and Customs was a breeze, and we found the Dublin Express as soon as we walked out of the terminal. Our hotel was a short walk from the George Quay stop. The rooms were small but nicely appointed. We took a short break and then headed to the Temple Bar area to see the sights. We stopped at John Gogartys first, and they had great live music. We really felt we were in Ireland, and we enjoyed a couple of sets. We walked a little further down Fleet Street and found the actual Temple Bar. We met some fun people from Texas and really enjoyed our time there. We found a good traditional restaurant on the way back to our hotel and after that had an early night. The next morning, we found a nice restaurant for breakfast and then slowly made our way to the Jameson distillery. We walked along the north side of Liffey, enjoying the sights. We made a few side trips and even checked out a Mark's and Spencer's. The distillery tour was so cool. We really enjoyed it and met a nice young woman from Colorado who joined us for drinks at the Brazen Head afterward. We made our way slowly back towards our hotel and stopped for dinner. The next day, we had tickets for the Guiness Warehouse tour. We'd had so much fun the previous day we were moving a little slowly so we gave ourselves lots of time to walk the 3 kilometers to the warehouse. It was a little different than Jamieson in that it was a self-directed tour, but after we got started, it was pretty impressive. By the time we finished the tour and arrived at the top floor Gravity Bar, we were ready for our pint. Randy and Mike had a traditional pint, but Lori and I tried the Hop House 13. The views were beautiful, and the beers were good. It was really crowed so the people watching was really interesting. We stopped for dinner on the walk back to the hotel and did a little more exploring. The next morning, we caught the Dublin Express back to the airport and picked up our rental car. It was a fun three days, and we were looking forward to continuing our travels.Read more